Feature

DHAKA has created glorious heritage despite ups and downs in its status and fortune. The events are recorded in history, but the places are not. Travellers and settlers from Europe, Asia Minor and Arab, attracted by its wealth and fables, gave accounts of Dhaka's rich architecture. The rulers brought artisan and technique from their land which contributed in making civic, royal, military and religious structures. The treacherous river, flooding and other environmental ravages threatened the longevity of these buildings. More destructive were the years of neglect and misuse, incompatible uses and commercial pressure. Lack of appreciation of heritage and conservation needs, and an indifference of the policy makers and professionals put the last nail. Very few of the artefacts were preserved; most of them in deplorable condition are gradually deteriorating in oblivion.

Architectural heritage is formed by handful of splendid forts and mansions, walls and gates, mosques and mausoleums, temples and churches, institutional and commercial buildings that survived the time and tension. The riverbank attracted many marvellous structures. Beautiful palatial mansions like Ahsan Manjil, Weis's house, Ruplal House, Reboti Mohon Saha's house, Jatin Saha's house, Prasanna Babu's house, Mathura Babu's house, Uma Babu's house, Ashu Babu's house, Basanta Babu's house, religious buildings like Amiruddin Daroga's mosque and Shaista Khan's mosque, and civic buildings like the Lal Kuthi, Jeo, Radha Govinda and Sitaram Mandirs, Bibi ka Raoja and Beg Murader Killa, Gol Talab or Lohar Pul were raised along the water. Collector D'Oyle captured in sketches the grandeur and beauty of some of those that made up the riverfront, where half a century later Buckland Bundh was developed.

Rose Villa, Chandra and Sushila Kutir, Sur Sudha, Sankhanidhi, Katras, Lalbag Fort, Joy Kali, Lakshminarayan, Dhakeswari and Brahmasamaj temples, Gouri Math, Binat Bibi, Farrukh Shiar's, Tara, Dayra, Kamranga, Beg, Vatt, Kazi Nehal, Mirdha, Kusumpatti, Dakhini, Anandabazaar and Begumbazaar mosques, St. Thomas and Armenian churches, Dufferin hostel and Mohsinia Madrasa, Pogose and Collegiate schools, Hussaini Dalan and St. Gregory school and church were not far from these. Many other edifices have perished; a few that survived are in disrepair; often illegally occupied and used deleteriously.

Further north and to the west there are many more ornate historic structures like Bardwan House, Chummery, DU VC's house, Ramna bungalows, Shahbaz Khan, Ambar Shah, Shahi Bibi, Gore, Mariam Saleha, Bogdadi and Satgambudj mosques, Eidgah, Nimtali Deuri, Peer Yemeni mazaar, Guruduara and Greek mausoleum, Holy Rosario church, Sidheswari and Ramna Kalibari, Dholai and Begunbari khals, Baldah Garden, Narinda Cemetery and Victoria Park.

This is neither a full list, nor all the above structures made up the illusive 'List' of heritage buildings. An attempt made by the Urban Development Committee is still not complete.

Extensive encroachments plague almost all magnificent 19-20C palatial mansions in Dhaka. The Bundh area with a few excellent colonial period buildings is a historic zone; so are Sankharibazaar, Tantibazaar and Goalnagar. The areas are choked with people, vehicle, goods due to the narrow roads and incompatible functions. The Ruplal House, which not many buildings can parallel in grandeur and importance, houses the largest wholesale vegetable and spice market in the country, in addition to housing some defense staff. About 50 families of the Fire Department staff and Sublette now occupy the Reboti Mohon Saha's house on Dholai Khal. Other mansions like Sadhana Oushudhalay or Jatindranath's house are subject to abuse and misuse by commercial interests like boarding, hostel, warehouse, cottage industry and printing press.

The Adi Basanta Babur Bari and the Goala Bari are just two examples of past magnificence and grandeur swept away by ominous market forces; developers demolished these two beautiful buildings in 2005 to build shopping malls and multi-storey apartments. Yet another example of insensitivity towards and ignorance of heritage by the 'enlightened' society is the destruction of the 160 years old Jagannath University Library Building in November 2006. Originally a Zamindaar Bari overlooking the oval greens of the Bahadur Shah Park and an arboretum of precious plants on the south, housed the first modern bank of the country. The two storied building gave in to a 20-storied academic cum commercial block despite series of protests and unsuccessful legal steps by activists and the media. The phenomenon of 'demolish-and-replace' is ubiquitous in the old and even in the not-so-old parts of the city. Multi-storied residential and commercial buildings are continually and rapidly replacing the historic urban fabric. The Ramna, Segunbagicha, Paltan, Topkhana and Bijoynagar to the north of the Secretariat in new Dhaka are witnessing demolition of many early-20C bungalows.

Vibrant Old Dhaka is pulsating with activity and people, which can be the basis for an area conservation plan. To establish controls and limits, society must accept the historical references and the government should patronise and support conservation. This will ensure survival of the heritage and success of conservation programs with the stakeholders' involvement. The restoration of Northbrook Hall and the Ahsan Manjil has assured their continuity, but the surrounding inhospitable conditions grossly undermine the value and benefit of conservation to the society. It demands that the area be cleared of incompatible uses, made more accessible and the context revived by restoring other historical buildings too. There is a need to carry architectural documentation, and conservation carried out to protect them from decay and damages, with special consideration on the townscape value.

Sketch of Ruplal House by Arjun, a student of architecture at North South University

This final note is on possibly the most viewed of those magnificent villas, thanks to the entertaining media. Zamindaar Hrishikesh Das built Rose Villa on KM Das Lane in Tikatuly amidst a garden of rare roses, some of foreign origin, on 22 bigha of land with ponds, fountain, marble statues and an orchard. It took him six years to finish this mansion of timeless elegance and stupefying luxury. Hrishikesh built this and started organising jalsas to rival Baldah Garden where he was refused entry despite his wealth due to his low caste.

Many important political meetings mainly after the partition of India were hosted at the Rose Garden, attended by great leaders of Bengal. Later the owner moved to a building within the same premise, and set up Bengal Studio there as an alternative to the FDC; in no time it became a popular spot due to its majestic disposition and as many movies then evolved around stories of Kings and Zamindaars. Still many drama, movies, ads and songs are shot here. The Archaeology Department included the building in its protection 'List' in 1989. At present the owner is renovating the mansion by himself without permission from any relevant body.

The symmetrical faced construction is divided into five segments with six multi-height fluted columns with elaborate foliage-capital placed on equally elaborate bases. All arches over the openings in the middle three sections are moulded and semi-circular. Parapets over the two sections flanking the central one have semi-circular gables. The central bay has a crescent-balcony over the entry through three arches, approached by elaborate steps from the garden and flanked by railing and life-size statues; there is a vehicular entry round from the east under a portico. Besides there are rectangular balconies over cast-iron brackets in each other sections facilitating garden view. A lantern dome atop the central bay stands on eight columns and pointed arches.

All the openings are decorated in intricate geometric pattern, foliage and animal motifs in wood, coloured Belgian glass and iron. There is a huge marble-floor ball room upstairs; its ceiling has floral design done with green mirrors. There is an intricately designed spiral staircase in front of the ball room to lead to the roof; its railings are made of wood and metals in gorgeous pattern. Other railings and parapet are made of cement curved in various geometric moulds. In fact so many intricate patterns and ornamentation borrowed from hybrid sources have been used that an architecture student can spend weeks learning from this the most ornate building of Dhaka.

Surrounded by high walls, the west-facing building is about 45 feet in height and is nearly 7000 sft in area. Except the facade, all other sides are rather unadorned. The pitch-roof on the bland side wings ends in triangular gables at the east and west, which look colonial. A major part of the building may have been deep pink in colour; however an age-old pale ash tint hangs over it now. Originally the approach road went around the pond at the front for the easy circulation of cars. There are few later-expansions, like a modern toilet added to the west end of the ground floor. There were 'Gari Ghars' at both the north and south end of the building, now encircled into rooms. A three storied structure has been added at the back that provides accommodation to the maintenance staff.

National award winner sculptor-painter Hamiduzzaman Khan did some sketches of Rose Villa in pen, ink and crayon, along with colour washes. Fifty of these beautiful drawings were published in an 88-page book, which also contains twenty black and white photographs; text by a Kazi family member lends substance to the heritage of the Rose Garden.

(Dr. Mahbubur Rahman teaches at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia)